Former President Donald Trump has formally notified the judge and prosecution in his federal election interference trial of his intention to introduce classified information in support of his defense during the course of the proceedings.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith indicted Trump on August 1 on four felony counts in connection with his contest of the 2020 presidential election results and the Capitol incursion that occurred on January 6, 2021.
As part of the pretrial dispute between the former president’s defense and Smith, a document was filed by the former president’s legal team on Thursday.
“The Indictment in this case adopts classified assessments by the Intelligence Community and others that minimized, and at times ignored, efforts by foreign actors to influence and interfere with the 2020 election,” the filing said.
“President Trump will offer classified information at trial relating to foreign influence activities that impacted the 2016 and 2020 elections, as well as efforts by his administration to combat those activities,” it said.
The filing said Trump will show that the intelligence community was biased against him.
“President Trump will also present classified information relating to the biased and politicized nature of the intelligence assessments that he and others rejected during the events in question,” it said.
“Collectively, this evidence will undercut central theories of the prosecution and establish that President Trump acted at all times in good faith and on the belief that he was doing what he had been elected to do,” the filing said.
The attorneys for Trump raised objections to the redactions made to classified documents that were presented during pretrial discovery. The prosecution contended that the documents had “limited” and “tangential” relevance to the case.
The filing said that “‘the government appears to have looked with tunnel vision at limited issues it believed were relevant.’”
“The Office was wrong,” it said.
NEW: Looks like Trump is ready to turn the tables on DOJ/intelligence community for foreign interference in 2016 and 2020 elections in Jan 6 case. pic.twitter.com/q9xIJN5KJl
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) October 27, 2023
Trump telegraphed last week that he will present “massive” amounts of information at his trial.
“Does anyone notice that the Election Rigging Biden Administration never goes after the Riggers, but only after those that want to catch and expose the Rigging dogs. Massive information and 100% evidence will be made available during the Corrupt Trials started by our Political Opponent,” he posted Oct. 20 on his Truth Social platform.
“We will never let 2020 happen again,” he said. “Look at the result, OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED.”
The indictment against Trump claims that he “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government.”
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified,” the indictment said.
In addition to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, he was charged with four felonies.
The foremost Republican presidential candidate in 2024 is the defendant in one of four criminal cases, including the federal election interference trial. In addition to a federal prosecution involving mismanagement of classified information, Trump is also the subject of a Georgian trial for election interference and racketeering, and a New York trial for falsifying business records.